Simon, Julia, Ian, Michael, with 4 bikes intact at that stage. Simon suffered a terminal rear hub collapse after morning tea at Swansea. The only wheel available was 10 speed equipped, and his 9 speed chain was not compatible. A phone call , and he was in the car

Depending on who and how you count them we had up to 25 riders out there doing their bit at some stage during the three days. As to how many were in any one bunch at any one time – who knows! A long time ago I likened the ride to herding cats. You let them out in the morning and they come home at night! This year took that to even greater heights. There were bunches going everywhere – starting at various times – going in various directions – and all with smiles or grimaces attached.

Saturday saw us leaving Orford in two groups with most driving up and two riding from Hobart and surrounds. The early group left at 10. The main group left at 11. The splinter group from the main group caught the early group after their break at Swansea and then proceeded to splinter the early group! The main group trundled in after four hours which included a leisurely stop at Swansea. The weather brought out a very light tail breeze and a smidge of a shower towards Bicheno.

Sunday was a frenzy of bunches with the main bunch heading off for the 220km loop of Bicheno-Fingal-Campbell Town-Lake Leake- Bicheno at 8am. One peeled off at the bottom of Elephant Pass to go back to the late group. One peeled off at the top to go the other way on his own. The rest settled into a rhythm through the coffee stop at Fingal and lunch at Campbell Town. All the team work went to the pack as soon as the climb kicked in and the group of 11 soon became 8 bunches with everyone chasing everyone else. The shop at Lake Leake being shut down didn’t help the re-grouping but an opportune puncture from the front runners saw most get back together for the run into Bicheno. The weather was kind again – light SE tail breezes all the way to Conara and then back into it to Campbell Town. The climb hid the head wind until the turn on the highway and the SE drove us home. All back by 5:30 which – if I had a speedo – would have shown a pretty reasonable average over that distance.

The later bunches had a very successful visit to the Pancake Parlour on Elephant Pass and everyone got home before dark. Others reported the water temperature was good for a swim and that the head wind back to Bicheno hurt!

Monday morning and the wind direction had changed. A very gently NE saw us with a tail breeze all the way back to Orford. Everyone met at Swansea for the obligatory coffee but a mechanical saw the ‘main’ bunch splinter and start racing. Everyone else rode at a reasonable pace and arrived in Orford with wide smiles. And then one rode home to tick off around 600kms in 3 days!

Planning for next year starts now. Training for next year will have to wait until tomorrow - my legs say 'no'.